Posted on Aug 26, 2015
Veterans discharged for misconduct have higher risk of homelessness. I read this and I don't think it's true. What do you think?
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I read this report and believe the VA is publishing something that isn't true. No other studies have been done by this doctor, plus, I think he is biased. It actually pisses me off. See what you think.
The researchers used data on 448,290 U.S. active-duty military service members who were separated from the military between 2001 and 2011, deployed in Afghanistan or Iraq, and who subsequently used Veterans Health Administration services.
Service members who separate from the military have Department of Defense codes attributing the separation to misconduct including drugs, alcoholism, offenses and infraction, disability, early release, disqualified, normal, or unknown.
Almost 25,000 of the people in the database had been separated for misconduct, less than six percent of the total group.
According to the report 26% of folks discharged for misconduct are homeless when they first show up at the VA. Of course, in my opinion, they get it all exactly backwards. The military gives bad conduct discharges to people who exhibit anti-social behavior, so yeah, they’re probably going to exhibit anti-social behavior when they hit the streets, too. It’s not the type of discharge that causes the behavior, it’s the type of person that gets those discharges.
The study goes on to blame PTSD and combat experiences for the anti-social behavior, but they don’t mention how many of the separated service members actually participated in a PTSD-producing event. Additionally, as we’ve seen several times, the VA has done a piss-poor job of separating pretend veterans from the actual veterans, so what safe guards did the good doctor use in this study? Some of our friends have jobs in the private sector for helping veterans and they’ve lost their jobs for scrutinizing these pretend veterans too closely.
I could have told Doctor Gundlapalli how his study would end before it started. Rather than focus on the 10% of his sampling who are still homeless after 10 years, he should be looking at how the other 90% are beating those odds.
https://celebrity.yahoo.com/news/veterans-discharged-misconduct-higher-risk-homelessness-153400314.html?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma
The researchers used data on 448,290 U.S. active-duty military service members who were separated from the military between 2001 and 2011, deployed in Afghanistan or Iraq, and who subsequently used Veterans Health Administration services.
Service members who separate from the military have Department of Defense codes attributing the separation to misconduct including drugs, alcoholism, offenses and infraction, disability, early release, disqualified, normal, or unknown.
Almost 25,000 of the people in the database had been separated for misconduct, less than six percent of the total group.
According to the report 26% of folks discharged for misconduct are homeless when they first show up at the VA. Of course, in my opinion, they get it all exactly backwards. The military gives bad conduct discharges to people who exhibit anti-social behavior, so yeah, they’re probably going to exhibit anti-social behavior when they hit the streets, too. It’s not the type of discharge that causes the behavior, it’s the type of person that gets those discharges.
The study goes on to blame PTSD and combat experiences for the anti-social behavior, but they don’t mention how many of the separated service members actually participated in a PTSD-producing event. Additionally, as we’ve seen several times, the VA has done a piss-poor job of separating pretend veterans from the actual veterans, so what safe guards did the good doctor use in this study? Some of our friends have jobs in the private sector for helping veterans and they’ve lost their jobs for scrutinizing these pretend veterans too closely.
I could have told Doctor Gundlapalli how his study would end before it started. Rather than focus on the 10% of his sampling who are still homeless after 10 years, he should be looking at how the other 90% are beating those odds.
https://celebrity.yahoo.com/news/veterans-discharged-misconduct-higher-risk-homelessness-153400314.html?soc_src=mail&soc_trk=ma
Posted in these groups: 
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Homeless
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Homeless
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 15
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The only thing I could see that MIGHT back it up, is that if discharged for misconduct it could be harder to get a job. Joblessness and homelessness definitely relate.
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SGT (Join to see)
LCDR (Join to see), Personally, I think it's the VA's way of trying to explain why vets aren't treated faster. I think it's a biased article from one study.
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LCDR (Join to see)
SGT (Join to see) I could see that thought as well. It would be a convenient answer.
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I feel it goes hand in had as in: If you are undisciplined in the Military, chances are that your are undisciplined in life.
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SGT (Join to see)
Makes sense to me SGT (Join to see). If one is that undisciplined, I don't know why they would join a strict military service.
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Capt (Join to see)
SGT (Join to see) Many of us joined the military while still very young. Some matured, some didn't.
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Hey SGT (Join to see) I've read a study on suicide and early separation under OTH conditions that shows there is a strong correlation for increaded risk. Some 63% more likely to commit suicide so I could understand how there might be a connection with homelessness. Something about being disenfranchised does not sit well with service members.
There could be mental health, drug and alcohol, or other issues contributing to the suicide and maybe the homelessness problem as the study did not take any other factors into consideration. I think it would be wise to stratify this research based on reasons for the homelessness as the OTH seems more of predictive indicator than the source of the problem.
http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2211891
There could be mental health, drug and alcohol, or other issues contributing to the suicide and maybe the homelessness problem as the study did not take any other factors into consideration. I think it would be wise to stratify this research based on reasons for the homelessness as the OTH seems more of predictive indicator than the source of the problem.
http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=2211891
Risk of Suicide Among US Military Service Members Following Deployment
This retrospective cohort design uses administrative data to examine the association between deployment and suicide among all 3.9 million US military personnel who served during Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom, including suicides that occurred after separation.
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SGT (Join to see)
SPC David S., After rethinking my post I can see the correlation. I was thinking about a friend that wasn't homeless and not on drugs, decided one day he'd had enough and set his house on fire and shot himself in the head. I have had several discussions with several homeless vets, that are trying to become more productive. But, I think all of them were discharged honorably or they couldn't be in the VA system.
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